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It is 125 years today since Yasunari Kawabata was born.
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer born in Osaka. He came from an educated, wealthy family, but he lost his parents at an early age and his only sibling, a sister, died when he was nine years old. These childhood traumas came to inform his writing. After growing up with his maternal grandfather in the countryside, Kawabata read English and Japanese literature at...
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It is 113 years today since Victor Canning was born.
Victor Canning was a British author of humorous adventure stories and thrillers. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. At the outbreak of the First World War, while his father was doing his military service, he went with his mother and siblings to live with his uncle in Calstock, a few miles north of Plymouth. This was where Canning fell in love with the English countryside, which features prominently...
Sample of Authors
Chandler, Raymond
1888 - 1959
American detective writer, born in Chicago. He spent his early childhood in Wyoming and Nebraska. His parents divorced when...
Further reading
Ishiguro, Kazuo
1954 -
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, but he grew up in Guildford, Surrey. He has lived in the UK since 1960. His...
Further reading
Okri, Ben
1959 -
Ben Okri was born into the Urhobo tribe in Minna, Nigeria, as the son of Grace and Silver Okri, but he spent his early...
Further reading
Diderot, Denis
1713 - 1784
French author and philosopher born in the city of Langres in north-east France. He was the son of a wealthy knife maker and...
Further reading